Study: Software piracy on the rise, but so are sales

The Business Software Alliance recently conducted a study into piracy, and found that it may be a bigger problem than any of us could have thought, Reuters reports. The study showed that PC piracy accounted for 41 percent of total PC software installed in 2008, a 3 percent rise from 2007 figures. However, as piracy expands, so do sales, as PC software raked in $88 billion in 2008, a whopping 14 percent increase.

Even though the US only has a 20 percent piracy rate (which is the lowest in the world), Robert Holleyman, president and CEO of the BSA, says that figure is a lot worse considering we buy more software than any other country. But, as bad as the figures are, some countries are actually seeing a decline in illegal software.

Throughout two of the biggest regions for piracy (Russia and China), figures show a decline over previous years. In Russia, piracy dropped 5 points down to 68 percent in 2008, whereas in China the decline has been more gradual, dropping from figures of 90 percent in 2004 to 80 percent in 2008. Other countries remain at a 90 percent or higher piracy rate, however, including Georgia, Bangladesh, Armenia, Zimbabwe, Sri Landa, Azerbaijan and Moldova.